Im a senior in high school looking to get my 800 time to sub 2 and would appreciate any advice I can get. current prs : 16:57 5k, 4:49 mile, 2:05 4x8 relay split. I have never run a 400 sub 60 but i did split a 60 for the first leg of my 800 so I think i could if i tried but my 400 speed is def not very good. have been around 50-45 mpw in XC. thanks for the help!
Let’s do some 150m repeats after your easy runs. 3-4 of them once or twice a week. These should be at least sub 4:00 pace so a harder effort than your regular strides.
Once you’ve done that for a week or two, progress to having a 200m repeat session with the goal of running 29 or faster for each rep. Ideally you’ll be able to hit 6-8 reps of this with moderate rest (2-3 minutes).
After you’ve done that for a bit, move up to 300m repeats shooting for 43-44 per rep, with 4-6 reps in a workout. Take the rest you need to take to hit those splits. This progression should happen close to when racing starts. Maybe a week or two out.
In season vary these workouts
2-3x(400-200-200) shoot for sub 65 on the 400s and sub 28 on the 200s. Take 2 minutes between reps and full rest between sets.
2x(200-300-400-300-200) don’t worry much about splits on this one. Ideally it’ll be about 800m race pace but as long as you feel a bit of a lactic tie up starting at the 400m of every set you are doing it right. Take about 2-3 minutes for reps and full rest between sets
2-3x400m sub 60 with full rest. This is a great pre race workout. It can also be surprisingly tough mentally. Do 3 at pace and you should be able to break 2:00
Couple all of this work with your regular tempo and Vo2 sessions and you’ll break 2:00. I also reckon you are in about 55 400m shape, and not 60. You probably just haven’t figured out how to race it yet.
CopperRunner wrote:
Let’s do some 150m repeats after your easy runs. 3-4 of them once or twice a week. These should be at least sub 4:00 pace so a harder effort than your regular strides.
Once you’ve done that for a week or two, progress to having a 200m repeat session with the goal of running 29 or faster for each rep. Ideally you’ll be able to hit 6-8 reps of this with moderate rest (2-3 minutes).
After you’ve done that for a bit, move up to 300m repeats shooting for 43-44 per rep, with 4-6 reps in a workout. Take the rest you need to take to hit those splits. This progression should happen close to when racing starts. Maybe a week or two out.
In season vary these workouts
2-3x(400-200-200) shoot for sub 65 on the 400s and sub 28 on the 200s. Take 2 minutes between reps and full rest between sets.
2x(200-300-400-300-200) don’t worry much about splits on this one. Ideally it’ll be about 800m race pace but as long as you feel a bit of a lactic tie up starting at the 400m of every set you are doing it right. Take about 2-3 minutes for reps and full rest between sets
2-3x400m sub 60 with full rest. This is a great pre race workout. It can also be surprisingly tough mentally. Do 3 at pace and you should be able to break 2:00
Couple all of this work with your regular tempo and Vo2 sessions and you’ll break 2:00. I also reckon you are in about 55 400m shape, and not 60. You probably just haven’t figured out how to race it yet.
What a guy. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks CopperRunner.
Very useful for me too. I'm an EFL teacher at a foreign language school in China and am putting a middle distance group together and this will be a big help. Thank you so much.
And hey SlowBob good luck and keep us up to date with your progression
This site really is an excellent learning resource.
Owain
CopperRunner wrote:
Let’s do some 150m repeats after your easy runs. 3-4 of them once or twice a week. These should be at least sub 4:00 pace so a harder effort than your regular strides.
Once you’ve done that for a week or two, progress to having a 200m repeat session with the goal of running 29 or faster for each rep. Ideally you’ll be able to hit 6-8 reps of this with moderate rest (2-3 minutes).
After you’ve done that for a bit, move up to 300m repeats shooting for 43-44 per rep, with 4-6 reps in a workout. Take the rest you need to take to hit those splits. This progression should happen close to when racing starts. Maybe a week or two out.
In season vary these workouts
2-3x(400-200-200) shoot for sub 65 on the 400s and sub 28 on the 200s. Take 2 minutes between reps and full rest between sets.
2x(200-300-400-300-200) don’t worry much about splits on this one. Ideally it’ll be about 800m race pace but as long as you feel a bit of a lactic tie up starting at the 400m of every set you are doing it right. Take about 2-3 minutes for reps and full rest between sets
2-3x400m sub 60 with full rest. This is a great pre race workout. It can also be surprisingly tough mentally. Do 3 at pace and you should be able to break 2:00
Couple all of this work with your regular tempo and Vo2 sessions and you’ll break 2:00. I also reckon you are in about 55 400m shape, and not 60. You probably just haven’t figured out how to race it yet.
Good advice across the board by Cooper. We have done do a very similar workout as well with 2 sets (500m, 200m, 200m) with almost the exact pacing distribution to the 4-2-2 workout and always found it to be a great workout for indoors that still gives us some room to push the pedal harder when outdoor hits.
Great advice by Copper. If you want to work with a coach over the winter to guide your training, I’d be happy to help. I’ve coached post collegiate, D1, and high school runners. If you’re interested, shoot me an email at danielcgoetz@gmail.com or look me up on IG @teamgoetztraining. I was around where you were in high school, and fortunately I got to work with a great coach who helped me improve quite a bit.
slowbob wrote:
Im a senior in high school looking to get my 800 time to sub 2 and would appreciate any advice I can get. current prs : 16:57 5k, 4:49 mile, 2:05 4x8 relay split. I have never run a 400 sub 60 but i did split a 60 for the first leg of my 800 so I think i could if i tried but my 400 speed is def not very good. have been around 50-45 mpw in XC. thanks for the help!
One of my athletes ran his first 800 in High School yesterday and ran 1:53.5. He has been training since May.
*volume 30-35 miles per week or 50-55k he is only running 5 days a week
* threshold/3k pace efforts /hills/ 150's/long run 60-65 minutes
Here is what we have done in the last week but remember every athlete is different
Saturday 2x600m hill effort + 6x200m hill
Sunday easy 65 minutes
Monday OFF
Tuesday 2x200 threshold + 5x500/200 500 at 3k pace 200 at 1500m pace short rest between efforts + 4x150 accelerations
Wednesday 10k easy
Thursday 1500m threshold + 8x100m on slight hill incline
Friday OFF
Saturday Am 5k easy PM 800m race 1:53.5 (first race of Australian season w/championships in March)
As you can see not complicated. This athlete is lucky as he is the 4th best 800m runner in my group but next week he will run 1500m and I suspect he will run around 3:55.
Good luck on your season.